This invention relates generally to a decision making process and, more particularly, to network-based systems and methods for the evaluation of power generating facilities.
The financial management function of a business entity is responsible for evaluating acquisition candidates, sometimes referred to as power plants or power generating facilities and to monitor the performance of existing assets. The task of evaluation requires performing detailed technical and financial analyses and using the results as the basis of making recommendations to management to acquire power generating facilities that are profitable or to report on the financial condition of a specific asset. In today's environment, the financial management function expends substantial resources in inspecting the power plants, collecting business and operational data, collecting maintenance and fuel costs, analyzing data, and making recommendations to the business entity based on short term and long term operating objectives. The analysis, in part, is based on various operating models, which in turn are driven by assumptions. Setting assumptions, identifying methodology and formulas to compute the financial metrics, and establishing consistency and reliability in every power plant evaluation could be a significant task. These tasks are also very time-consuming and are often done manually without any fixed methodology. Such tasks, therefore, take away resources of the corporation from its operations and other profitable activities.
Therefore, it would be desirable to implement systems and processes that evaluate and make recommendations regarding existing and potential power generating assets using pre-defined criteria. It would be further desirable to utilize automated databases which are web-based enabled as input into the system so that consistent up-to-date information is used in the evaluation process.